A health care provider (e.g., physician or dentist) may administer nitrous oxide to a patient to alleviate pain or anxiety the patient is experiencing. Because nitrous oxide is minimally metabolized, it retains its potency when exhaled by the patient into the room. The exhaled nitrous oxide can pose an intoxicating and prolonged-exposure hazard to nearby health care providers. Thus, where nitrous oxide is administered, a continuous-flow fresh-air ventilation system or nitrous-scavenging system is used to prevent waste gas buildup.
Typical scavenging systems can be large and external to anesthetic equipment. Such scavenger units may include immobile units that create a negative pressure to remove waste gases exhaled by the patient. The expense and immobility of these systems present obstacles to their use in various environments such as, without limitation, a urology clinic wherein patients may benefit from short periods of anesthetic treatment. In other words, installing conventional, costly, space-intensive, immobile anesthetic units that provide gases (e.g., nitrous oxide) and scavenging capabilities may not be appropriate for meeting the needs of some health care environments such as medical clinics.